Three Brown University students injured during the December mass shooting in an academic building are suing the school for inadequate security and failing to act on warnings of suspicious activity by the shooter.
The three first-year students are each seeking damages in excess of $10,000 apiece for the physical and mental harm caused by what they allege was negligence on the university’s part, according to the complaints filed in R.I. Superior Court on Thursday, and first reported by the Boston Globe Rhode Island on Monday. Copies of the identical lawsuits were also obtained by Rhode Island Current.
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“Brown’s conduct, as alleged herein, was so willful, reckless, and wicked as to amount to criminality, which, for the good of society and as warning to Brown, ought to be punished by an award of punitive damages over and above that provided in an award of compensatory damages,” the complaint states.
All three students, referred to in court documents as “J. Doe No. 1, 2 and 3,” are represented by Providence law firm Decof, Mega & Quinn, which did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment Monday.
Brian Clark, a university spokesperson, confirmed the university had received the complaints but did not immediately comment on the allegations.
“Brown is reviewing the complaints carefully and promptly,” Clark said in an email Monday. “Out of respect for the privacy interests of the plaintiffs, we have no details to share on the merits of the litigation at this time. We will respond as appropriate through the legal process. We remain committed to the safety and security of our community and to supporting the path to recovery and repair for our students, faculty, staff and members of the broader community.
”The lawsuits come more than five months after Claudio Manuel Neves Valente opened fire during an economics review in Brown’s Barus & Holley building on Dec. 13. Two students were killed, and nine were injured, including the three plaintiffs. Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who briefly attended Brown in 2000, fled the scene on foot, launching a five-day manhunt that spanned local, state and federal law enforcement. Neves Valente, who also shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days after the Brown shooting, was found dead in a storage locker in Salem, New Hampshire.
In the wake of the shooting, university officials announced a series of security measures amid scrutiny – including from the U.S. Department of Education – over the open access and lack of cameras within the academic building where the shooting took place. Like much of the university campus, the 220,000-square foot building is enmeshed in the residential neighborhoods of the East Side of Providence. Former Providence Police Chief Hugh T. Clements was also brought on to lead the university’s public safety agency. Clements’ predecessor, Rodney Chatman, was put on leave and subsequently agreed to a settlement with the university after the shooting amid allegations that the university violated safety laws tied to its federal funding.
The university’s internal review, overseen by global consulting firm Teneo, is expected to continue through the spring, with “key outcomes” to be shared publicly upon completion, Clark said. The university is also in contact with federal regulators through the U.S. Department of Education, which launched its own probe into university security measures in late December, Clark said.
A spokesperson for the education department did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
But the improvements come too late, according to the three students now suing the university.
“Brown did not maintain any meaningful or effective security presence at the relevant entrances to Barus and Holley to screen, question, deter, or restrict entry during the examination period, notwithstanding the obvious student use of the building, its integration into the surrounding urban environment, and the prior reports concerning Valente’s suspicious presence there,” the complaints state.
The complaints each allege four counts of negligence, including physical protections of its facilities and for adequate staff training, and demand a jury trial.
A university custodian saw Neves Valente inside the building for several weeks before the shooting reported the suspicious activity to campus security. Yet security officers failed to investigate the warning or increase building security, the complaints stated.
Another witness, identified in the court documents and publicly as “John,” also reported seeing Neves Valente in the building hours before the shooting. John’s detailed description of Neves Valente helped law enforcement ultimately track his path to New Hampshire, relying largely on surveillance footage from nearby residential properties. But there was no footage inside the auditorium where the shooting took place, nor the hallways surrounding it, because Barus & Holley only had two outside cameras.
“As direct and proximate result of Brown’s aforementioned acts of negligence, Plaintiff suffered and became afflicted with grave and severe personal injuries, causing Plaintiff to suffer great pain of body, mind, nerves and nervous system, incur significant medical expenses, and extreme conscious pain and suffering and specific emotional distress all of which will continue into the future and are, otherwise, permanent,” the complaints state.
A hearing before R.I. Associate Justice Shannon Signore is scheduled for 2 p.m. on May 5, according to the public court docket.
Nancy Lavin is a senior staff writer for the Rhode Island Current.
